@thatguyoverthere light pollution will raise the noise floor but a telescope will be able to work with that to some degree; longer exposure/greater magnification should both help but there will be a limit as to what you can acheive
@thatguyoverthere filters for the wavelength of street lights would get you pretty far I imagine
@thatguyoverthere timing and filters will play a larger role than any machine learning stuff
@thatguyoverthere it's not procrastination, it's research